Monday, January 14, 2013

What are some of the advantages and disadvantages to a national policy that must be implemented by an agency of the federal bureaucracy?

The major benefits of having a policy that needs to be carried out by a national bureaucratic agency are that the policy is carried out in a uniform way by professional technocrats.  The first positive aspect of such a policy is that the policy is carried out the same way everywhere.  If a policy is left to be carried out by all the different state and/or local bureaucratic agencies, there will not be a central authority that can control the way in which it is being implemented.  By having the national government carry out this policy, we get a uniform policy across the country.  The second positive aspect of this policy is that it is carried out by technocrats.  The members of this bureaucratic agency are presumably experts in their field.  Therefore, they will be better equipped to carry the policy out than other people would be.


The major downsides of such a policy are the opposite of its benefits.  While it is good that the policy will be centrally administered, that makes is less flexible.  It means that local agencies cannot adapt the policy to fit their needs. Instead, the national government imposes a “one size fits all” policy on the states and localities.  While it is good that the policy is being carried out by technocrats, this does make things somewhat less democratic.  It is hard for the people to put pressure on bureaucrats if they do not like the way in which the policy is being implemented.


Thus, the good and bad aspects of having such a policy come together and cannot really be separated from one another.

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